Predictive data orchestration in multi-tier memory systems

ABSTRACT

A computing system having memory components of different tiers. The computing system further includes a controller, operatively coupled between a processing device and the memory components, to: receive from the processing device first data access requests that cause first data movements across the tiers in the memory components; service the first data access requests after the first data movements; predict, by applying data usage information received from the processing device in a prediction model trained via machine learning, second data movements across the tiers in the memory components; and perform the second data movements before receiving second data access requests, where the second data movements reduce third data movements across the tiers caused by the second data access requests.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/054,819, filed Aug. 3, 2018 and entitled“Predictive Data Orchestration in Multi-Tier Memory Systems,” whichclaims the benefit of the filing date of Prov. U.S. Pat. App. Ser. No.62/626,347, filed on Feb. 5, 2018 and entitled “Predictive DataOrchestration in Two Tier Memory Systems,” the entire disclosures ofwhich applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

The present application relates to U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/032,331, filed Jul. 11, 2018 and entitled “Predictive Paging toAccelerate Memory Access,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/035,469,filed Jul. 13, 2018, issued as U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/691,611 on Jun.23, 2020, and entitled “Isolated Performance Domains in a MemorySystem,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/054,719, filed Aug. 3,2018 and entitled “Memory Virtualization for Accessing HeterogeneousMemory Components,” the entire disclosures of which applications arehereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

At least some embodiments disclosed herein relate to memory systems ingeneral, and more particularly, but not limited to predictive dataorchestration in multi-tier memory systems.

BACKGROUND

A memory sub-system can be a memory module, such as a dual in-linememory module (DIMM), a small outline DIMM (SO-DIMM), or a non-volatiledual in-line memory module (NVDIMM). A memory sub-system can be astorage system, such as a solid-state drive (SSD), or a hard disk drive(HDD). A memory sub-system can include one or more memory componentsthat store data. The memory components can be, for example, non-volatilememory components and volatile memory components. Examples of memorycomponents include memory integrated circuits. Some memory integratedcircuits are volatile and require power to maintain stored data. Somememory integrated circuits are non-volatile and can retain stored dataeven when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include flashmemory, Read-Only Memory (ROM), Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM),Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) and ElectronicallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) memory, etc. Examples ofvolatile memory include Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) and StaticRandom-Access Memory (SRAM). In general, a host system can utilize amemory sub-system to store data at the memory components and to retrievedata from the memory components.

For example, a computer can include a host system and one or more memorysub-systems attached to the host system. The host system can have acentral processing unit (CPU) in communication with the one or morememory sub-systems to store and/or retrieve data and instructions.Instructions for a computer can include operating systems, devicedrivers, and application programs. An operating system manages resourcesin the computer and provides common services for application programs,such as memory allocation and time sharing of the resources. A devicedriver operates or controls a particular type of devices in thecomputer; and the operating system uses the device driver to offerresources and/or services provided by the type of devices. A centralprocessing unit (CPU) of a computer system can run an operating systemand device drivers to provide the services and/or resources toapplication programs. The central processing unit (CPU) can run anapplication program that uses the services and/or resources. Forexample, an application program implementing a type of applications ofcomputer systems can instruct the central processing unit (CPU) to storedata in the memory components of a memory sub-system and retrieve datafrom the memory components.

An operating system of a computer system can allow an applicationprogram to use virtual addresses of memory to store data in, or retrievedata from, memory components of one or more memory sub-systems of thecomputer system. The operating system maps the virtual addresses tophysical addresses of one or more memory sub-systems connected to thecentral processing unit (CPU) of the computer system. The operatingsystem implements the memory accesses specified at virtual addressesusing the physical addresses of the memory sub-systems.

A virtual address space can be divided into pages. A page of virtualmemory can be mapped to a page of physical memory in the memorysub-systems. The operating system can use a paging technique to access apage of memory in a storage device via a page of memory in a memorymodule. At different time instances, the same page of memory in a memorymodule can be used as proxy to access different pages of memory in thestorage device or another storage device in the computer system.

A computer system can include a hypervisor (or virtual machine monitor)to create or provision virtual machines. A virtual machine is acomputing device that is virtually implemented using the resources andservices available in the computer system. The hypervisor presents thevirtual machine to an operating system as if the components of virtualmachine were dedicated physical components. A guest operating systemruns in the virtual machine to manage resources and services availablein the virtual machine, in a way similar to the host operating systemrunning in the computer system. The hypervisor allows multiple virtualmachines to share the resources of the computer system and allows thevirtual machines to operate on the computer substantially independentlyfrom each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation inthe figures of the accompanying drawings in which like referencesindicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing system having a memorysub-system in accordance with some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a computing system having different tiers of memory and adata orchestrator to optimize data locations in accordance with at leastsome embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 3 shows a system having a data orchestrator.

FIG. 4 illustrates an implementation of a data orchestrator.

FIG. 5 shows a method of predictive data orchestration.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example computer system in whichembodiments of the present disclosure can operate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

At least some aspects of the present disclosure are directed to apredictive data movement technique that can accelerate memory access ina computer system having multi-tiers of memories of differentperformance levels. A memory sub-system is also hereinafter referred toas a “memory device”. An example of a memory sub-system is a memorymodule that is connected to a central processing unit (CPU) via a memorybus. Examples of memory modules include a dual in-line memory module(DIMM), a small outline DIMM (SO-DIMM), a non-volatile dual in-linememory module (NVDIMM), etc. Another example of a memory sub-system is astorage device that is connected to the central processing unit (CPU)via a peripheral interconnect (e.g., an input/output bus, a storage areanetwork). Examples of storage devices include a solid-state drive (SSD),a flash drive, a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, and a hard diskdrive (HDD). In some embodiments, the memory sub-system is a hybridmemory/storage sub-system that provides both memory functions andstorage functions. In general, a host system can utilize a memorysub-system that includes one or more memory components. The host systemcan provide data to be stored at the memory sub-system and can requestdata to be retrieved from the memory sub-system.

A conventional system can have a cache structure where slower memoriesare accessed through faster memories. When a processor accesses datathat is currently in a slower memory, the data is loaded to a fastermemory as a proxy of the data in the slower memory. Subsequently, theprocessor operates on the proxy/cache of the data in the faster memoryfor improved performance. The faster memory typically has a capacitysmaller than the slower memory. Thus, only a portion of the data in theslower memory can be cached concurrently in the faster memory. A cachemiss occurs when an item accessed by the processor is not currently inthe faster memory. A cache hit occurs when an item accessed by theprocessor is currently in the faster memory. The percentage of accessesthat result in cache hits is a cache hit ratio. Improving the cache hitratio can improve the operating performance of the computing system.However, it is a challenge to design a cache policy to improve cache hitratio.

At least some aspects of the present disclosure address the above andother deficiencies by performing predictive data movements acrossdifferent tiers of memories using a machine learning technique. Memoriesof different tiers can have different data access speeds. For example,to improve operating performance of a computing system, frequently useddata can be placed in a faster memory; and less frequently used data canbe placed in a slower memory. The faster memory can be optionallyconfigured as a cache memory for the slower memory. In some instances,at least a portion of the slower memory can be accessed directly withoutgoing through the faster memory as a cache. Data usage information canbe applied in a predictive model, trained using a machine learningtechnique, to predict workload intend and thus data movements across thememories of different tiers. For example, data usage information caninclude the history of data accesses and attributes related to dataaccesses, such as applications or programs that uses the data, useraccounts in which the data accesses are made, virtual machines thataccess the data, objects to which the data belong, mapping between datablocks to objects as organized in applications, relations among objects,etc. The data movements predicted according to the data usageinformation can be performed preemptively to improve the operatingperformance of the computing system. The prediction model can beinitially trained offline using historic data usage information andhistoric data movements caused by data accesses associated with the datausage information. The training minimizes the differences between thehistoric data movements and predictions generated by applying thehistoric data usage information in the prediction model. Subsequently,the prediction model can be used for real time prediction using the realtime data usage information. Performing the predicted data movements canreduce the need to move data in response to data access requests. Thedata movements caused by the real time data access requests, and/orindications of whether the predicted data movements reduce the need tomove data across the tires, can be used to identify desired real timeprediction results. The desired results can further train the predictionmodel using a reinforcement machine learning technique for continuedimprovement and adaptation of the prediction model. The prediction modelcan be dynamically adapted to the current workloads in real time usageof the computing system.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing system 100 having a memorysub-system 110 in accordance with some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The memory sub-system 110 can include media, such as memorycomponents 109A to 109N. The memory components 109A to 109N can bevolatile memory components, non-volatile memory components, or acombination of such. In some embodiments, the memory sub-system 110 is amemory module. Examples of a memory module includes a DIMM, NVDIMM, andNVDIMM-P. In some embodiments, the memory sub-system is a storagesystem. An example of a storage system is an SSD. In some embodiments,the memory sub-system 110 is a hybrid memory/storage sub-system. Ingeneral, the computing environment can include a host system 120 thatuses the memory sub-system 110. For example, the host system 120 canwrite data to the memory sub-system 110 and read data from the memorysub-system 110.

The host system 120 can be a computing device such as a desktopcomputer, laptop computer, network server, mobile device, or suchcomputing device that includes a memory and a processing device. Thehost system 120 can include or be coupled to the memory sub-system 110so that the host system 120 can read data from or write data to thememory sub-system 110. The host system 120 can be coupled to the memorysub-system 110 via a physical host interface. As used herein, “coupledto” generally refers to a connection between components, which can be anindirect communicative connection or direct communicative connection(e.g., without intervening components), whether wired or wireless,including connections such as electrical, optical, magnetic, etc.Examples of a physical host interface include, but are not limited to, aserial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface, a peripheralcomponent interconnect express (PCIe) interface, universal serial bus(USB) interface, Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), a doubledata rate (DDR) memory bus, etc. The physical host interface can be usedto transmit data between the host system 120 and the memory sub-system110. The host system 120 can further utilize an NVM Express (NVMe)interface to access the memory components 109A to 109N when the memorysub-system 110 is coupled with the host system 120 by the PCIeinterface. The physical host interface can provide an interface forpassing control, address, data, and other signals between the memorysub-system 110 and the host system 120. FIG. 1 illustrates a memorysub-system 110 as an example. In general, the host system 120 can accessmultiple memory sub-systems via a same communication connection,multiple separate communication connections, and/or a combination ofcommunication connections.

The host system 120 includes a processing device 118 and a controller116. The processing device 118 of the host system 120 can be, forexample, a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), a processingcore of a processor, an execution unit, etc. In some instances, thecontroller 116 can be referred to as a memory controller, a memorymanagement unit, and/or an initiator. In one example, the controller 116controls the communications over a bus coupled between the host system120 and the memory sub-system 110.

In general, the controller 116 can send commands or requests to thememory sub-system 110 for desired access to memory components 109A to109N. The controller 116 can further include interface circuitry tocommunicate with the memory sub-system 110. The interface circuitry canconvert responses received from memory sub-system 110 into informationfor the host system 120.

The controller 116 of the host system 120 can communicate withcontroller 115 of the memory sub-system 110 to perform operations suchas reading data, writing data, or erasing data at the memory components109A to 109N and other such operations. In some instances, thecontroller 116 is integrated within the same package of the processingdevice 118. In other instances, the controller 116 is separate from thepackage of the processing device 118. The controller 116 and/or theprocessing device 118 can include hardware such as one or moreintegrated circuits and/or discrete components, a buffer memory, a cachememory, or a combination thereof. The controller 116 and/or theprocessing device 118 can be a microcontroller, special purpose logiccircuitry (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), or another suitableprocessor.

The memory components 109A to 109N can include any combination of thedifferent types of non-volatile memory components and/or volatile memorycomponents. An example of non-volatile memory components includes anegative-and (NAND) type flash memory. Each of the memory components109A to 109N can include one or more arrays of memory cells such assingle level cells (SLCs) or multi-level cells (MLCs) (e.g., triplelevel cells (TLCs) or quad-level cells (QLCs)). In some embodiments, aparticular memory component can include both an SLC portion and a MLCportion of memory cells. Each of the memory cells can store one or morebits of data (e.g., data blocks) used by the host system 120. Althoughnon-volatile memory components such as NAND type flash memory aredescribed, the memory components 109A to 109N can be based on any othertype of memory such as a volatile memory. In some embodiments, thememory components 109A to 109N can be, but are not limited to, randomaccess memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), phasechange memory (PCM), magneto random access memory (MRAM), Spin TransferTorque (STT)-MRAM, ferroelectric random-access memory (FeTRAM),ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM), resistiverandom access memory (RRAM), oxide based RRAM (OxRAM), negative-or (NOR)flash memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), nanowire-based non-volatile memory, memory that incorporatesmemristor technology, and a cross-point array of non-volatile memorycells. A cross-point array of non-volatile memory can perform bitstorage based on a change of bulk resistance, in conjunction with astackable cross-gridded data access array. Additionally, in contrast tomany flash-based memories, cross-point non-volatile memory can perform awrite in-place operation, where a non-volatile memory cell can beprogrammed without the non-volatile memory cell being previously erased.Furthermore, the memory cells of the memory components 109A to 109N canbe grouped as memory pages or data blocks that can refer to a unit ofthe memory component used to store data.

The controller 115 of the memory sub-system 110 can communicate with thememory components 109A to 109N to perform operations such as readingdata, writing data, or erasing data at the memory components 109A to109N and other such operations (e.g., in response to commands scheduledon a command bus by controller 116). The controller 115 can includehardware such as one or more integrated circuits and/or discretecomponents, a buffer memory, or a combination thereof. The controller115 can be a microcontroller, special purpose logic circuitry (e.g., afield programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), etc.), or another suitable processor. The controller 115can include a processing device 117 (processor) configured to executeinstructions stored in local memory 119. In the illustrated example, thelocal memory 119 of the controller 115 includes an embedded memoryconfigured to store instructions for performing various processes,operations, logic flows, and routines that control operation of thememory sub-system 110, including handling communications between thememory sub-system 110 and the host system 120. In some embodiments, thelocal memory 119 can include memory registers storing memory pointers,fetched data, etc. The local memory 119 can also include read-onlymemory (ROM) for storing micro-code. While the example memory sub-system110 in FIG. 1 has been illustrated as including the controller 115, inanother embodiment of the present disclosure, a memory sub-system 110may not include a controller 115, and can instead rely upon externalcontrol (e.g., provided by an external host, or by a processor orcontroller separate from the memory sub-system).

In general, the controller 115 can receive commands or operations fromthe host system 120 and can convert the commands or operations intoinstructions or appropriate commands to achieve the desired access tothe memory components 109A to 109N. The controller 115 can beresponsible for other operations such as wear leveling operations,garbage collection operations, error detection and error-correcting code(ECC) operations, encryption operations, caching operations, and addresstranslations between a logical block address and a physical blockaddress that are associated with the memory components 109A to 109N. Thecontroller 115 can further include host interface circuitry tocommunicate with the host system 120 via the physical host interface.The host interface circuitry can convert the commands received from thehost system into command instructions to access the memory components109A to 109N as well as convert responses associated with the memorycomponents 109A to 109N into information for the host system 120.

The memory sub-system 110 can also include additional circuitry orcomponents that are not illustrated. In some embodiments, the memorysub-system 110 can include a cache or buffer (e.g., DRAM) and addresscircuitry (e.g., a row decoder and a column decoder) that can receive anaddress from the controller 115 and decode the address to access thememory components 109A to 109N.

The computing system 100 includes a data orchestrator 113 in the memorysub-system 110 that can perform predictive data movements between fastermemory (e.g., 109A) and slower memory (e.g., 109N). In some embodiments,the controller 115 in the memory sub-system 110 includes at least aportion of the data orchestrator 113. In other embodiments, or incombination, the controller 116 and/or the processing device 118 in thehost system 120 includes at least a portion of the data orchestrator113. For example, the controller 115, the controller 116, and/or theprocessing device 118 can include logic circuitry implementing the dataorchestrator 113. For example, the controller 115, or the processingdevice 118 (processor) of the host system 120, can be configured toexecute instructions stored in memory for performing the operations ofthe data orchestrator 113 described herein. In some embodiments, thedata orchestrator 113 is implemented in an integrated circuit chipdisposed in the memory sub-system 110. In other embodiments, the dataorchestrator 113 is part of an operating system of the host system 120,a device driver, or an application.

The data orchestrator 113 can predict data usages and movements acrossdifferent tires of memories, faster memory (e.g., 109A) and slowermemory (e.g., 109N). Applications may access certain data in sequences;and certain objects may be used together. Thus, the use of a data itemin a user account, in an application, in a virtual machine, as part ofan object, can be indication of the subsequent use of another relateddata item. Before the related data item is accessed, the dataorchestrator 113 can instruct the controller 115 to rearrange thephysical storage locations of the data items in the memory sub-system110, such that at a time when the processing device 118 of the hostsystem 120 accesses the related data item, the data item is already inthe faster memory (e.g., 109A). Thus, the operation performance of thecomputing system is improved. The predictive model of the dataorchestrator 113 can be implemented via an artificial neural network,which can be initially trained offline using historic data accessrecords initially and then continuously trained in real time use usingthe real time data access records. Further details with regards to theoperations of the data orchestrator 113 are described below.

In one example, the central processing unit (CPU) can access two sets ofmemory provided in one or more memory systems connected to the CPU. Forexample, one set of memory can be slower than the other set of memory;and the central processing unit (CPU) can be configured to access theslower set of memory via the faster set of memory using a pagingtechnique. The faster set of memory can be used as the cache memory ofthe slower set of memory. For example, one set of memory cannot bedirectly addressable by the CPU and is coupled to the other set ofmemory that is directly addressable by the CPU; and the centralprocessing unit (CPU) can be configured to access a set of memory thatis not directly addressable via the set of memory that is directlyaddressable in a way similar to the use of the paging technique. The setof memory that can be accessed directly can be used as the cache memoryof the set of memory that cannot be accessed directly.

When a faster memory is used as a cache of a slower memory, the datastored in the faster memory has a corresponding copy in the slowermemory. When the faster memory is changed, the corresponding copy in theslower memory becomes out of date. The changed content in the fastermemory is to be flushed to the slower memory for update.

Alternatively, the content in the slower memory can be accessed withoutgoing through the faster memory in some instances; and the content inthe faster memory may not have a corresponding copy in the slowermemory. The distribution of the content in the slower memory and thefaster memory can be dynamically changed to optimize the operatingperformance for the current workload. In such a situation, the fastermemory can still be considered as a cache for tracking cache hit ratio.For example, if a data item being accessed is serviced from the fastermemory, a cache hit is counted; and if a data item being accessed isserviced from the slower memory, a cache miss is counted.

In some instances, a memory virtualizer can be implemented in a devicedriver of a memory component to virtualize memory access to the memoriesof different tiers to shield the differences in the memory components109A to 109N from applications and/or virtual machines. The memoryvirtualizer automatically adjusts data storage locations across thememories of different tiers to optimize the performance of the computingsystem. Some details and examples of memory virtualizers can be found inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/054,719, filed Aug. 3, 2018 andentitled “Memory Virtualization for Accessing Heterogeneous MemoryComponents”.

When a data item being accessed is in the slower set of memory but notin the faster set of memory, the data item can be accessed in the slowerset of memory directly, or swapped to the faster set of memory foraccessing in the faster set of memory, or cached in the faster set ofmemory. If the workload of accessing the data item is predicted by thedata orchestrator 113, the data orchestrator 113 instructs thecontroller 115 to swap the data item to the faster set of memory, orcache the data item in the faster set of memory, before the data access.After the data movement performed in accordance with workloadprediction, the data access can be served from the faster set of memorywhen the data item is accessed. Since the data access is serviced fromthe faster set of memory, the time to complete the data access isshorter than servicing from the slower set of memory, or swapping to thefaster set of memory for servicing, or loading the data from the slowerset of memory to the faster set of memory for caching and thenservicing.

For example, when a page of virtual memory being accessed is currentlyin the slower set of memory but not in the faster set of memory, a pagecan be allocated from the faster set of memory to service the page inthe slower set of memory; and the data of the page can be fetched fromthe slower set of memory and stored in the allocated page in the fasterset of memory, such that the data access of the page of the virtualmemory can be made via accessing the allocated page in the faster set ofmemory in subsequent operations.

In some instances, swapping a page takes a time longer than simplyaccess a requested data element from the slower memory. Thus, therequested data element is first serviced to the requester, while thepage swapping is performed to speed up subsequent access to the dataelements in the hot page. Thus, the overall performance is better thanholding the request for the data element until the page swap iscompleted.

Further, information related to the use of the pages in the slower setof memory can be used to train a self-learning prediction engine inpredicting the use of the pages. For example, a supervised machinelearning technique can be used to train, using the information, anartificial neural network to predict the use of the pages in the slowerset of memory by reducing the errors between predictions and the actualuse of the pages. After the training of the artificial neural network,the prediction engine can use the current information to predict thenext pages to be used. Further, the training, prediction, and feedbackfrom the actual usage following the prediction for further training canbe performed in a continuous fashion to adapt the prediction model ofthe artificial neural network to the most recent usage patterns ofmemory pages.

In response to the memory usage prediction that a page in the slower setof memory is to be used soon, the data orchestrator 113 can instruct thecontroller 115 to proactively swap or cache the page of data from theslower set of memory to the faster set of memory, such that when neededfor processing, the page of data is already in the faster set of memory,which arrangement improves the data access speed of the page of data.

The accuracy of the prediction can be measured against the subsequentactual page use; and the prediction and the subsequent actual page usecan be used to further train or adjust the artificial neural network totrack the most recent usage patterns of memory pages.

Alternatively, or in combination, the machine learning-based predictioncan be replaced or augmented with policy based prediction rules. Forexample, pages storing resident codes (e.g., in lower addresses) can bemaintained in the faster set of memory when possible to reduce swappingof frequently used pages. For example, a huge page can be loaded intothe faster set of memory when a page that is a portion of the huge pageis being accessed. For example, predictions can be made at least in partusing heuristic rules, based on indications such as whether the pagesare accessed sequentially or randomly, whether the data access is in asteady state mode or in a bursty mode, and/or the logical relationsbetween pages (and pages of different sizes).

Some details and examples regarding the prediction techniques can befound in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/032,331, filed Jul. 11,2018 and entitled “Predictive Paging to Accelerate Memory Access”.

FIG. 2 shows a computing system having different tiers of memory and adata orchestrator to optimize data locations in accordance with at leastsome embodiments disclosed herein.

The computing system of FIG. 2 includes a host system 120, a memorymodule 205 connected to the host system 120 via a memory bus 203, and astorage device 209 connected to the memory module 205 via aninterconnect 207. The storage device 209 and/or the memory module 205are examples of the memory sub-system 110 illustrated in FIG. 1.

The host system 120 has a processing device 118, which can be a centralprocessing unit or a microprocessor with one or more processing cores.The host system 120 can have a memory management unit 213 and cachememory 211. The memory management unit 213 and/or at least a portion ofthe cache memory 211 can be optionally integrated within the sameintegrated circuit package of the processing device 118.

The memory module 205 illustrated in FIG. 2 has multiple types of memory(e.g., 221 and 223). For example, memory of type A 221 is faster thanmemory of type B 223.

For example, the memory bus 203 can be a double data rate bus; and theinterconnect 207 can be a peripheral component interconnect express(PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, auniversal serial bus (USB) bus, and/or a storage area network. Memory oftype B 223 in the memory module 205 can be accessed at a speed fasterthan accessing memory of type B 223 in the storage device 209.

The storage device 209 illustrated in FIG. 2 has multiple types ofmemory (e.g., 223 and 225). For example, memory of type B 223 is fasterthan memory of type C 225.

In general, a plurality of memory modules (e.g., 205) can be coupled tothe memory bus 203; and a plurality of storage devices (e.g., 209) canbe coupled to the peripheral interconnect 207. In some instances, theperipheral interconnect 207 and the storage devices (e.g., 209) areoptional and can be absent from the computing system. In otherinstances, the memory bus 203 and the memory modules (e.g., 205) can beoptional and can be absent from the computing system.

In a possible configuration when a plurality of memory modules (e.g.,205) are coupled to the memory bus 203, one of the memory modules (e.g.,205) has memory of type A 221; and another of the memory modules hasmemory of type B 223 that is accessible at a speed lower than the memoryof type A 221 in a separate memory module (e.g., 205).

Similarly, in a possible configuration when a plurality of storagedevices (e.g., 209) are coupled to the interconnect 207, one of thestorage device (e.g., 209) has memory of type B 223, and another of thestorage devices has memory of type C 225 that is accessible at a speedlower than the memory of type B 223 in a separate storage device (e.g.,209).

The processing device 118 and/or the MMU 213 are configured viainstructions (e.g., an operating system and/or one or more devicedrivers) to access a portion of memory in the computer system viaanother portion of memory in the computer system using a pagingtechnique and/or a memory map interface.

For example, memory of type B 223 of the memory module 205 can beaccessed via memory of type A 221 of the memory module 205 (or anothermemory module).

For example, memory of type B 223 of the storage device 207 can beaccessed via memory of type A 221 of the memory module 205 and/or viamemory of type B 223 of the memory module 205.

For example, memory of type C 225 of the storage device 207 can beaccessed via memory of type A 221 of the memory module 205, via memoryof type B 223 of the memory module 205, and/or via memory of type B 223of the storage device 207 (or another storage device).

For example, in some instances, memory of type A 221 and memory of typeB 223 in the same memory module 205 (or different memory modules) areaddressable directly and separately over the memory bus 203 by thememory management unit 213 of the processing device 118. However, sincethe memory of type B 223 is slower than memory of type A 221, it isdesirable to access the memory of type B 223 via the memory of type A221.

In other instances, memory of type B 223 of the memory module 205 isaccessible only through addressing the memory of type A 221 of thememory module 205 (e.g., due to the size restriction in the addressportion of the memory bus 203).

The data orchestrator 113 can instruct a controller X 227 in the memorymodule 205 to perform data transfer/movement between the memory of typeA 221 and the memory of type B 223 within the memory module 205,especially when the memory of type B 223 of the memory module 205 is notdirectly addressable using the memory bus 203.

Further, the data orchestrator 113 can instruct a controller X 227 inthe memory module 205 to communicate with a controller Y 229 in thestorage device 209 to perform data transfer/movement between memories223 to 225 in the storage device 209, and/or between the storage device209 and the memory module 205.

In one variation, the memory (e.g., 221 and 223) of the memory module205 can have the same performance individually within the memory module205; however, the memory management unit 213 and/or the processingdevice 118 are restricted to access via the memory 223 via the memory221 (e.g., due to the size restriction in the address portion of thememory bus 203). Thus, the memory 223 appears to be slower than thememory 221 to the processing device 118.

In general, the memory sub-systems (e.g., 205 and 209) can includemedia, such as memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225). The memory(e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225) can include volatile memory,non-volatile memory (NVM), and/or a combination of such. In someembodiments, the computer system includes at least one memory sub-systemthat is a storage device 209. An example of a storage device 209 is asolid-state drive (SSD). In some embodiments, the computer systemincludes at least one memory sub-system that is a hybrid memory/storagesystem configured as a memory module 205. The processing device 118 canwrite data to each of the memory sub-systems (e.g., 205 and 209) andread data from the memory sub-systems (e.g., 205 and 209) directly orindirectly.

The computing system of FIG. 2 can be used to implement a desktopcomputer, laptop computer, network server, mobile device, or suchcomputing device that includes a memory and a processing device. Theprocessing device 118 can read data from or write data to the memorysub-systems (e.g., 205 and 209).

The processing device 118 can be coupled to a memory sub-system (e.g.,205, 209) via one or more physical interface (e.g., 203, 207).

As used herein, “coupled to” generally refers to a connection betweencomponents, which can be an indirect communicative connection or directcommunicative connection (e.g., without intervening components), whetherwired or wireless, including connections such as, electrical, optical,magnetic, etc.

Examples of a physical host interface include, but are not limited to, aserial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface, a peripheralcomponent interconnect express (PCIe) interface, universal serial bus(USB) interface, Fibre Channel, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI),Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), etc.

The physical host interface can be used to transmit data between theprocessing device 118 and the memory sub-system (e.g., 209). Thecomputer system can further utilize an NVM Express (NVMe) interface toaccess the memory (e.g., 223, . . . , 225) when the memory sub-system209 is coupled with the peripheral interconnect 207 via the PCIeinterface. The physical host interface can provide an interface forpassing control, address, data, and other signals between the memorysub-system (e.g., 209) and the processing device 118.

In general, a memory sub-system (e.g., 205 and 209) includes a printedcircuit board that connects a set of memory devices, such as memoryintegrated circuits, that provides the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, .. . , 225). The memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225) on thememory sub-system (e.g., 205 and 209) can include any combination of thedifferent types of non-volatile memory devices and/or volatile memorydevices.

An example of non-volatile memory devices includes a negative-and (NAND)type flash memory or a negative-or (NOR) type flash memory. A memoryintegrated circuit can include one or more arrays of memory cells, suchas single level cells (SLCs), multi-level cells (MLCs), triple levelcells (TLCs), quad-level cells (QLCs), etc. In some implementations, aparticular memory device can include both an SLC portion and a MLC (orTLC or QLC) portion of memory cells. Each of the memory cells can storeone or more bits of data used by the host system 120. Althoughnon-volatile memory devices such as NAND type flash memory aredescribed, the memory integrated circuits can be based on any other typeof memory such as a volatile memory. In some implementations, the memory(e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225) can include, but are not limitedto, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), synchronousdynamic random access memory (SDRAM), phase change memory (PCM), magnetorandom access memory (MRAM), negative-or (NOR) flash memory,electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or across-point array of non-volatile memory cells. A cross-point array ofnon-volatile memory can perform bit storage based on a change of bulkresistance, in conjunction with a stackable cross-gridded data accessarray. Additionally, in contrast to many Flash-based memory, cross pointnon-volatile memory can perform a write in-place operation, where anon-volatile memory cell can be programmed without the non-volatilememory cell being previously erased. Furthermore, the memory cells ofthe memory devices can be grouped as memory pages or data blocks thatcan refer to a unit of the memory device used to store data.

A memory sub-system (e.g., 205 or 209) can have a controller (e.g., 227or 229) that communicate with the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . ., 225) to perform operations such as reading data, writing data, orerasing data in the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225) andother such operations, in response to requests, commands or instructionsfrom the processing device 118 and/or the memory management unit (MMU)213. The controller (e.g., 227 or 229) can include hardware such as oneor more integrated circuits and/or discrete components, a buffer memory,or a combination thereof. The controller (e.g., 227 or 229) can be amicrocontroller, special purpose logic circuitry (e.g., a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), etc.), or another suitable processor. The controller(e.g., 227 or 229) can include one or more processors (processingdevices) configured to execute instructions stored in local memory.

The local memory of the controller (e.g., 227 or 229) can include anembedded memory configured to store instructions for performing variousprocesses, operations, logic flows, and routines that control operationof the memory sub-system (e.g., 205 or 209), including handlingcommunications between the memory sub-system (e.g., 205 or 209) and theprocessing device 118/MMU 213, and other functions described in greaterdetail below. The local memory 119 of the controller (e.g., 227 or 229)can include read-only memory (ROM) for storing micro-code and/or memoryregisters storing, e.g., memory pointers, fetched data, etc.

While the example memory sub-systems (e.g., 205 and 209) in FIG. 2 havebeen illustrated as including controllers (e.g., 227 and 229), inanother embodiment of the present disclosure, a memory sub-system (e.g.,205 or 209) may not include a controller (e.g., 227 or 229), and caninstead rely upon external control (e.g., provided by the MMU 213, or bya processor or controller separate from the memory sub-system (e.g., 205or 209)).

In general, the controller (e.g., 227 or 229) can receive commands,requests or instructions from the processing device 118 or MMU 213 inaccordance with a standard communication protocol for the communicationchannel (e.g., 203 or 207) and can convert the commands, requests orinstructions in compliance with the standard protocol into detailedinstructions or appropriate commands within the memory sub-system (e.g.,205 or 209) to achieve the desired access to the memory (e.g., 221, . .. , 223, . . . , 225). For example, the controller (e.g., 227 or 229)can be responsible for operations such as wear leveling operations,garbage collection operations, error detection and error-correcting code(ECC) operations, encryption operations, caching operations, and addresstranslations between a logical block address and a physical blockaddress that are associated with the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . .. , 225). The controller (e.g., 227 or 229) can further include hostinterface circuitry to communicate with the processing device 118 viathe physical host interface. The host interface circuitry can convertthe commands received from the processing device 118 into commandinstructions to access the memory devices (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . ., 225) as well as convert responses associated with the memory devices(e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225) into information for theprocessing device 118.

The memory sub-system (e.g., 205 or 209) can also include additionalcircuitry or components that are not illustrated. In someimplementations, the memory sub-system (e.g., 205 or 209) can include acache or buffer (e.g., DRAM) and address circuitry (e.g., a row decoderand a column decoder) that can receive an address from the controller(e.g., 227 or 229) or the MMU 213 and decode the address to access thememory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225).

In one example, the interconnect 207, or the memory bus 203, has one ormore connectors to provide the memory sub-system (e.g., 209 or 205) withpower and/or communicate with the memory sub-system (e.g., 209 or 205)via a predetermined protocol; and the memory sub-system (e.g., 209 or205) has one or more connectors to receive the power, data and commandsfrom the processing device 118. For example, the connection between theconnector on the interconnect 207 and the connector on a memorysub-system (e.g., 209) can utilize a PCIe bus or a SATA bus.

In some instances, the interconnect 207 is connected to the host system120 without going through the memory module 205 and/or the memory bus203. When the storage device 209 is coupled to the host system 120without going through the memory module 205, a data orchestrator 113 canbe implemented in the storage device 209 in a way similar to the dataorchestrator 113 in the memory module 205.

In some instances, the data orchestrator 113 can be implemented at leastin part in the host system 120.

In general, the processing device 118, the controller 227, and/or thedata orchestrator 113 can execute one or more operating systems toprovide services, including acceleration of memory access in which aportion of memory in the computer system is accessed via another portionof memory in the computer system using a paging technique and/or amemory map interface, as further discussed below.

FIG. 3 shows a system having a data orchestrator 113. For example, thesystem of FIG. 3 can be implemented in a computer system of FIG. 1 or 2.

The system of FIG. 3 includes a host operating system 241 that can runin the processing device 118 of the computer system of FIG. 1 or 2. Thehost operating system 241 includes one or more device drives thatprovides memory services using the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . ., 225) of memory sub-systems, such as the memory module 205 and/or thestorage device 209.

The host operating system 241 includes a hypervisor 245 that provisionsa virtual machine 249. The virtual machine 249 has virtual hardwareimplemented via the resources and services provided by the hostoperating system 241 using the hardware of the computing system of FIG.1 or 2. For example, the hypervisor 245 can provision virtual memory aspart of the virtual machine 249 using a portion of the memory (e.g.,221, . . . , 223, . . . , 225) of memory sub-systems, such as the memorymodule 205 and/or the storage device 209.

The virtual machine 249 allows a guest operating system 243 to provideresources and/or services to applications (e.g., 251, . . . , 253)running in the guest operating system 243, in a way as the operatingsystem 243 running on a physical computing machine that has the same orsimilar set of hardware as provisioning in the virtual machine. Thehypervisor 245 manages the mapping between the virtual hardwareprovisioned in the virtual machine and the services of hardware in thecomputing system managed by the host operating system 241.

FIG. 3 illustrates an instance in which a virtual machine 249 isprovisioned by the hypervisor 245. In general, the hypervisor 245 canprovision a plurality of virtual machines (e.g., 249) that can run thesame guest operating system 243, or different guest operating systems(e.g., 243). Different sets of users and/or application programs can beassigned to use different virtual machines.

In some instances, the host operating system 241 is specialized toprovide services for the provisioning of virtual machines and does notrun other application programs. Alternatively, the host operating system241 can provide additional services to support other applicationprograms, such as applications (e.g., 251, . . . , 253).

In FIG. 3, the hypervisor 245 is configured to use a single-root I/OVirtualization to organize data streams of differentcharacteristics/attributes. For example, the memory module 205 has aphysical function 246 that can implement a plurality of virtualfunctions (e.g., 247). A virtual function 247 provides the service ofthe memory module 205 via the physical function 246. The hypervisor 245allocates and reserves the virtual function 247 for memory access by aparticular virtual machine 249, a particular application (e.g., 251 or253), a particular user account, etc. Thus, the identifier of thevirtual function 247 used to access the memory module 205 can be used toinfer the data usage information of the data access, such as theidentities of the virtual machine 249, the application 251 and/or theuser account that are associated with and/or responsible for the dataaccess made using the virtual function 247. Such information can be usedin the data orchestrator 113 in machine learning to predict dataworkload and/or movements and in making real time predictions.

For example, the data orchestrator 113 can be trained to predict the useof a data item in a slower memory and load the data item into a fastermemory before the data item actually requested for use by the virtualmachine 249, the application 251 running in the virtual machine, and/ora user account operating the application 251. The prediction reduces thetime between a request to use the data item and the availability of theitem in the faster memory by loading, transferring, and/or, caching theitem into the faster memory before the request to use the item reachesthe memory module 205, which accelerates the data access of the page.

For example, the slower memory can be the memory 223 in the memorymodule 205 and the faster memory be the memory 221 in the same memorymodule 205 (or another memory module connected to the same memory bus203 as the memory module 205).

For example, the slower memory can be the memory 223 in the storagedevice 209; and the faster memory can be the memory 223 of the same typein the memory module 205, or the memory 221 in the memory module 205.

For example, the slower memory can be the memory 225 in the storagedevice 209; and the faster memory can be the memory 223 in the samestorage device 209 or another storage device connected to theinterconnect 207, or memory (e.g., 223 or 221) in the memory module 205.

Preferably, the predictive data movement is performed within a samememory sub-system, such as within the same memory module 205, the samestorage device 209, or the same combination of the memory module 205 andthe storage device 209, to avoid or reduce congestion in communicationchannels connected to the processing device 118, such as the memory bus203 and/or the interconnect 207. For example, the predictive datamovement can be performed to copy data from the slower memory 223 in thememory module 205 to the faster memory 221 in the memory module 205,under the control of a controller 227 in the memory module 205 inresponse to one or more command, request, or instruction from the dataorchestrator 113. For example, the predictive data movement can beperformed to copy data from the slower memory 225 in the storage device209 to the faster memory 223 in the storage device 209, under thecontrol of a controller 229 in the storage device 209 in response to oneor more command, request, or instruction from the data orchestrator 113.For example, the predictive data movement can be performed to copy datafrom the storage device 209 to the memory module 205, under the controlof the controller 227 and the controller 229 in the storage device 209,in response to one or more command, request, or instruction from thedata orchestrator 113.

In one embodiment, the hypervisor 245 not only requests the devicedriver to access a memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , or 225) in amemory sub-system (e.g., memory module 205 or storage device 209) butalso provides the device driver with information that can be used inmaking predictions of which data items in the memory (e.g., 221, . . . ,223, . . . , or 225) are likely to be used in a subsequent time periodand which data items in the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , or225) are unlikely to be used in the subsequent time period. Theinformation can be provided at least in part via the use of virtualfunctions (e.g., 247) that are pre-associated with certain data usageattributes, such as virtual machine 249, application 251, user account,etc.

For example, a page that is likely to be used can be referred to as ahot page; and a page that is unlikely to be used can be referred to as acold page. The likelihood of a page being used in the subsequent timeperiod can be referred to as the temperature of the page. The dataorchestrator 113 uses the information provided/identified by thehypervisor 245 to predict the temperatures of the pages, moves coldpages from faster memory to slower memory, and moves hot pages fromslower memory to faster memory to optimize the distribution of the pagesin the memory (e.g., 221, . . . , 223, . . . , or 225) and acceleratedata access.

Examples of information provided by the hypervisor 245 and used by thedata orchestrator 113 to make the predictions include: sequences ofpages being used in a prior time period, instances of requests to loadpages from the slower memory to the faster memory, content attributes ofthe pages, ownership attributes of the pages, identifications of usersor applications of the pages, an indication of whether pages areaccessed in a sequential mode in a virtual machine and/or in a useraccount, an indication of whether page accesses are in a steady state,an indication whether a page used is associated with a huge page,mapping between data blocks and objects, etc.

FIG. 4 illustrates an implementation of a data orchestrator 113.

In FIG. 4, the data orchestrator 113 includes a cache controller 273 anda workload recognizer 263. The workload recognizer 263 includes aprediction model 265 that can be implemented using an artificial neuralnetwork.

The cache controller 273 processes data access requests 271 from thehost system 120. The cache controller 273 monitors a higher performancememory used as a cache relative to a lower performance memory, analyzesthe usage of the cache, optimizes the usage of the cache, and managesthe use of the cache. Conventional cache techniques can be implementedin the cache controller 273.

In response to the data access requests 271, the cache controller 273determines whether the data targeted by the requests 271 are in thehigher performance memory at the time of the requests 271. If so, thecache controller 273 counts the corresponding data access requests 271as cache hits; and otherwise, the cache controller 273 counts thecorresponding data access requests 271 as cache misses. Thus, the cachecontroller 273 can generate the measurement of cache hit ratio 275 forthe data distribution at the time of the data access requests 271.

Optionally, the cache controller 273 may service a portion of dataaccess requests 271 directly from the lower performance memory withoutcaching/loading the corresponding data into the higher performancememory.

The cache policy used the cache controller 273 can be used to identifydata movements 277 that are implemented by the cache controller 273.

The data usage information 261 corresponding to the data access requests271 is collected for an initial time period of the operation of thecomputing system for the training of the prediction model 265. Forexample, a supervised machine learning technique can be used to trainthe artificial neural network of the prediction model 265 to minimizethe different between the data movements 277 implemented by the cachecontroller 273 responsive to the data access requests 271 and the datamovement 269 predicted using the prediction model 265 using the datausage information 261 corresponding to the data access requests 271. Themachine learning can be performed offline on another computing device toestablish the initial prediction model 265.

Subsequently, the prediction module 265 can be used in the workloadrecognizer 263 to make real time predictions of data movements 269 basedon real time data usage information 261 and real time data accessrequests 271. The workload recognizer 263 instructs the cache controller273 to perform the predicted data measurements, which can cause changesin the cache hit ratio 275. The prediction model 265 is adjusted and/ortrained in real time using a hybrid reinforcement machine learningtechnique to continuously drive up the cache hit ratio 275. Thus, theprediction model 265 can automatically adapt to the current workload ofthe computing system and implement predicted data movements 269 toachieve a cache hit ratio 275 higher than that can be achieved via thecache controller 273 alone.

Preferably, the predictions made by the workload recognizer 263 arebased at least in part on a block to object map 267. For a statisticalanalysis of the data usage information 261, the data orchestrator 113can identify the underlying relations among data blocks. For example,some data blocks represent parts of a same data object in anapplication; parts of a data object are accessed together; some dataobjects have a pattern of being accessed in a particular order; theaccess to one data object in a user account running an application on avirtual machine can have a high probability of leading to the access toanother data object. The block to object map 267 identifies therelations that improve the prediction accuracy of the workloadrecognizer 263.

FIG. 5 shows a method of predictive data orchestration. The method ofFIG. 5 can be performed by processing logic that can include hardware(e.g., processing device, circuitry, dedicated logic, programmablelogic, microcode, hardware of a device, integrated circuit, etc.),software (e.g., instructions run or executed on a processing device), ora combination thereof. In some embodiments, the method of FIG. 5 isperformed at least in part by the data orchestrator 113 of FIG. 1, 2, 3,or 4. Although shown in a particular sequence or order, unless otherwisespecified, the order of the processes can be modified. Thus, theillustrated embodiments should be understood only as examples, and theillustrated processes can be performed in a different order, and someprocesses can be performed in parallel. Additionally, one or moreprocesses can be omitted in various embodiments. Thus, not all processesare required in every embodiment. Other process flows are possible.

For example, the method of FIG. 5 can be implemented in a computingsystem of FIG. 1 or 2 with a host operating system 241 of FIG. 3 and aprediction model 265 of FIG. 4. For example, the data orchestrator 113can be implemented at least in part via the cache controller 273 and theworkload recognizer 263 of FIG. 4 and/or the virtual function 247 ofFIG. 3.

At block 301, the data orchestrator 113 receives, from a processingdevice 118, first data access requests that cause first data movementsacross tiers.

For example, the memory components of different tiers (e.g., 109A to109N in FIGS. 1, 221 to 223 and/or to 225 in FIG. 3) can have firstmemory and second memory, where the first memory functions as cache ofthe second memory. For example, the first memory can be volatile dynamicrandom-access memory; and the second memory can be non-volatilecross-point memory. In some instances, the first memory and the secondmemory are housed in a same memory sub-system, such as a memory module205 or a storage device 209. In other instances, the first memory andthe second memory can be housed in separate same memory sub-systems thatcan communicate with each other without involving the host system 120and/or the memory bus 203.

When the processing device 118 accesses the second memory, the accessrequests causes caching, in the first memory, the portion of the secondmemory that is being access. In other instances, the first memory doesnot function as cache of the second memory; and in response to a requestto access a data item that is in the second memory, the dataorchestrator 113 determines, based on a set of policies or rules,whether or not to change the storage location of the data item from thesecond memory to the first memory; and if so, the data orchestrator 113can swap the data item from the second memory to the first memory.

At block 303, the data orchestrator 113 performs the first datamovements responsive to the first data access requests.

For example, the first data movements performed/implemented in responseto the first data access requests can be recorded in connection withdata usage information associated with the first data access requests.For example, the data usage information can identify a sequence of datablocks being used in a period of time, instances of requests to loaddata blocks from the second memory to the first memory, contentattributes of data blocks loaded from the second memory to the firstmemory, ownership attributes of data blocks loaded from the secondmemory to the first memory, identifications of users of data blocksloaded from the second memory to the first memory, identifications ofapplications that cause data blocks being loaded from the second memoryto the first memory, an identification of data blocks that are accessedin a sequential mode in a virtual machine, an identification of datablocks that are accessed in a sequential mode in a user account, and/oran identification of data accesses that are in a steady state.

The first data movements can be used as desired prediction results of aprediction model 265 that makes predictions using the data usageinformation associated with the first data access requests. For example,the prediction model 265 has an artificial neural network that can betrained using a supervised machine learning technique to reduce thedifferent between the first data movements and the predictions madeusing the data usage information associated with the first data accessrequests. An initial training of the artificial neural network can beoptionally performed offline using a separate computer and the recordedinformation about the first data access requests, the first datamovements caused by the first data access requests, and the data usageinformation before the first data access requests. For example, the dataorchestrator 113 can store the recorded information in a portion ofmemory controlled by the data orchestrator 113; and another processingdevice 118 can access the portion of the memory to perform the initialtraining for the data orchestrator 113. Alternatively, the initialtraining of the artificial neural network can be performed in the dataorchestrator 113 until the prediction accuracy of the prediction model265 reaches a threshold level.

At block 305, a memory sub-system 110 (e.g., memory module 205 and/orstorage device 209) services the first data access requests after thefirst data movements. The performance of the computing system can beimproved by predicting data movements and performing the predicted datamovements before the corresponding data access requests.

At block 307, the data orchestrator 113 receives data usage information261 from the processing device 118.

At block 309, the data orchestrator 113 predicts, based on the datausage information 261 and the prediction model 265 trained via machinelearning, second data movements 269 across the tiers in the memorycomponents.

At block 311, the data orchestrator 113 performs the second datamovements 269 before receiving second data access requests 271. Thesecond data movements 269 reduce data movements across the tiers causedby the second data access requests.

The data orchestrator 113 can optionally further train the predictionmodel based on a performance measurement of the plurality of memorycomponents in servicing the second data access requests from theprocessing device 118 and/or the data movements caused by the seconddata access requests.

For example, the performance measurement can be a cache hit ratio ofsecond data access requests measured by the data orchestrator 113. Forexample, requests of the processing device 118 for data in the secondmemory can cause movements of the requested data from the second memoryto the first memory; such movements can be counted as cache misses; anddata access requests that do not cause such movements can be counted ascache hits. The data orchestrator 113 can train the prediction model 265using a hybrid reinforcement learning technique to drive up the cachehit ratio, reduce the count of cache misses, and/or match predictionswith the desired data movements identified from the data accessrequests.

For example, the data orchestrator 113 can be implemented as acontroller in an integrated circuit chip disposed on a memory module ora storage device, in the form of a field programmable gate array (FPGA)or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The dataorchestrator 113 obtains the data usage information 261 based at leastin part on the identities of virtual functions (e.g., 247) in which thedata access requests are used. For example, different virtual functions(e.g., 247) can be used to represent different combinations of datausage information for a period of time, such as virtual machines,applications, user accounts, data access modes, etc.

Optionally, the data orchestrator 113 further perform a statisticalanalysis of the data access requests 271 and data usage information 261to identify a mapping between data blocks in the plurality of memorycomponents and data objects as organized in applications running in theprocessing device. The use of the mapping with the prediction model 265can improve the prediction accuracy of the data orchestrator 113.

Preferably, the predicted data movements 269 are performed without goingthrough the bus (e.g., 203) that is used by the data orchestrator 113 tocommunicate with the host system 120.

In some implementations, a communication channel between the processingdevice 118 and a memory sub-system includes a computer network, such asa local area network, a wireless local area network, a wireless personalarea network, a cellular communications network, a broadband high-speedalways-connected wireless communication connection (e.g., a current orfuture generation of mobile network link); and the processing device 118and the memory sub-system can be configured to communicate with eachother using data storage management and usage commands similar to thosein NVMe protocol.

A memory sub-system in general can have non-volatile storage media.Examples of non-volatile storage media include memory cells formed in anintegrated circuit and magnetic material coated on rigid disks.Non-volatile storage media can maintain the data/information storedtherein without consuming power. Memory cells can be implemented usingvarious memory/storage technologies, such as NAND logic gate, NOR logicgate, phase-change memory (PCM), magnetic memory (MRAM), resistiverandom-access memory, cross point storage and memory devices (e.g., 3DXPoint memory). A cross point memory device uses transistor-less memoryelements, each of which has a memory cell and a selector that arestacked together as a column. Memory element columns are connected viatwo perpendicular lays of wires, where one lay is above the memoryelement columns and the other lay below the memory element columns. Eachmemory element can be individually selected at a cross point of one wireon each of the two layers. Cross point memory devices are fast andnon-volatile and can be used as a unified memory pool for processing andstorage.

The controller (e.g., 227, or 229) of a memory sub-system (e.g., 205 or209) can run firmware to perform operations responsive to thecommunications from the processing device 118. Firmware in general is atype of computer program that provides control, monitoring and datamanipulation of engineered computing devices.

Some embodiments involving the operation of the controller 227 can beimplemented using computer instructions executed by the controller 227,such as the firmware of the controller 227. In some instances, hardwarecircuits can be used to implement at least some of the functions. Thefirmware can be initially stored in the non-volatile storage media, oranother non-volatile device, and loaded into the volatile DRAM and/orthe in-processor cache memory for execution by the controller 227.

A non-transitory computer storage medium can be used to storeinstructions of the firmware of a memory sub-system (e.g., 209 or 205)and/or the instructions of the operating system (e.g., 241, 243) ingeneral and the device driver and the hypervisor 245 in particular. Whenthe instructions are executed by the controller 227 and/or theprocessing device 118, the instructions cause the controller 227 and/orthe processing device 118 to perform a method discussed above.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example machine of a computer system 600 withinwhich a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein, can be executed. In someembodiments, the computer system 600 can correspond to a host system(e.g., the host system 120 of FIG. 1) that includes, is coupled to, orutilizes a memory sub-system (e.g., the memory sub-system 110 of FIG. 1)or can be used to perform the operations of a data orchestrator 113(e.g., to execute instructions to perform operations corresponding tothe data orchestrator 113 described with reference to FIGS. 1-5). Inalternative embodiments, the machine can be connected (e.g., networked)to other machines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, and/or theInternet. The machine can operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in client-server network environment, as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment, or as a serveror a client machine in a cloud computing infrastructure or environment.

The machine can be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a webappliance, a server, a network router, a switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also betaken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointlyexecute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 600 includes a processing device 602, a mainmemory 604 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM(RDRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storagesystem 618, which communicate with each other via a bus 630 (which caninclude multiple buses).

Processing device 602 represents one or more general-purpose processingdevices such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, or thelike. More particularly, the processing device can be a complexinstruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW)microprocessor, or a processor implementing other instruction sets, orprocessors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processingdevice 602 can also be one or more special-purpose processing devicessuch as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP),network processor, or the like. The processing device 602 is configuredto execute instructions 626 for performing the operations and stepsdiscussed herein. The computer system 600 can further include a networkinterface device 608 to communicate over the network 620.

The data storage system 618 can include a machine-readable storagemedium 624 (also known as a computer-readable medium) on which is storedone or more sets of instructions 626 or software embodying any one ormore of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 626 can also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 604 and/or within the processing device 602during execution thereof by the computer system 600, the main memory 604and the processing device 602 also constituting machine-readable storagemedia. The machine-readable storage medium 624, data storage system 618,and/or main memory 604 can correspond to the memory sub-system 110 ofFIG. 1.

In one embodiment, the instructions 626 include instructions toimplement functionality corresponding to a data orchestrator 113 (e.g.,the data orchestrator 113 described with reference to FIGS. 1-5). Whilethe machine-readable storage medium 624 is shown in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable storagemedium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple mediathat store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“machine-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include anymedium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions forexecution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term“machine-readable storage medium” shall accordingly be taken to include,but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical media, and magneticmedia.

Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presentedin terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations ondata bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the ways used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to adesired result. The operations are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily,these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capableof being stored, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. The presentdisclosure can refer to the action and processes of a computer system,or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transformsdata represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computersystem's registers and memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computer system memories or registers orother such information storage systems.

The present disclosure also relates to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus can be specially constructed for theintended purposes, or it can include a general purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored inthe computer. Such a computer program can be stored in a computerreadable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of diskincluding floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-opticaldisks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs,EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable forstoring electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purposesystems can be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it can prove convenient to construct a more specializedapparatus to perform the method. The structure for a variety of thesesystems will appear as set forth in the description below. In addition,the present disclosure is not described with reference to any particularprogramming language. It will be appreciated that a variety ofprogramming languages can be used to implement the teachings of thedisclosure as described herein.

The present disclosure can be provided as a computer program product, orsoftware, that can include a machine-readable medium having storedthereon instructions, which can be used to program a computer system (orother electronic devices) to perform a process according to the presentdisclosure. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). In someembodiments, a machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) mediumincludes a machine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium such as aread only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic diskstorage media, optical storage media, flash memory components, etc.

In this description, various functions and operations are described asbeing performed by or caused by computer instructions to simplifydescription. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what ismeant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution ofthe computer instructions by one or more controllers or processors, suchas a microprocessor. Alternatively, or in combination, the functions andoperations can be implemented using special purpose circuitry, with orwithout software instructions, such as using Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC) or Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).Embodiments can be implemented using hardwired circuitry withoutsoftware instructions, or in combination with software instructions.Thus, the techniques are limited neither to any specific combination ofhardware circuitry and software, nor to any particular source for theinstructions executed by the data processing system.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the disclosure have beendescribed with reference to specific example embodiments thereof. Itwill be evident that various modifications can be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of embodiments of thedisclosure as set forth in the following claims. The specification anddrawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative senserather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, in a computingdevice, data usage information identifying first data movements across aplurality of tiers of memory, the first data movements caused by aprocessing device accessing first data; predicting, by the computingdevice based on the data usage information and a prediction modeltrained via machine learning, second data movements across the pluralityof tiers of memory, the second data movement predicted to be caused bythe processing device accessing second data; and initiating, by thecomputing device, the second data movements before the processing devicerequesting to access the second data.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe prediction model comprises an artificial neural network; and themethod further comprises: training the prediction model using the datausage information identifying the first data movements across theplurality of tiers of memory.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thepredicting is performed in real time for the second data accessrequests.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: performing thirddata movements in response to the processing device requesting to accessthe second data; and training the prediction model based on the thirddata movements.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: groupingdata blocks that are used together to identify a mapping between datablocks and data objects, wherein the predicting is based at least inpart on the mapping.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:adjusting the prediction model based on a performance measurement of theplurality of tiers of memory in servicing data access requests from theprocessing device.
 7. A computing system, comprising: a processingdevice; a plurality of memory components of different tiers; and acontroller, operatively coupled between the processing device and theplurality of memory components, and configured to at least: receive datausage information identifying first data movements across a plurality oftiers of memory in the computing system, the first data movements causedby the processing device accessing first data; predict, based on thedata usage information and a prediction model trained via machinelearning, second data movements across the plurality of tiers of memory,the second data movement predicted to be caused by the processing deviceaccessing second data; and initiate, by the computing system, the seconddata movements before the processing device requesting to access thesecond data.
 8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the controlleris further configured to: adjust the prediction model based on aperformance measurement of the plurality of memory components inservicing data access requests from the processing device.
 9. Thecomputing system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of memory componentsinclude first memory and second memory; the first memory functions ascache of the second memory; the performance measurement is a cache hitratio of data access requests; and requests of the processing device fordata in the second memory causes movements of the requested data fromthe second memory to the first memory.
 10. The computing system of claim9, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the prediction modelusing a hybrid reinforcement learning technique by adjusting anartificial neural network to generate predictions that improves thecache hit ratio measured at the controller for the requests of theprocessing device.
 11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein thecontroller is configured to communicate with the processing device overa memory bus; and the controller and the plurality of memory componentsare configured on a memory module connected to the memory bus.
 12. Thecomputing system of claim 11, wherein the first data movements and thesecond data movement do not go through the memory bus.
 13. The computingsystem of claim 9, wherein the first memory is volatile dynamicrandom-access memory and the second memory is non-volatile cross-pointmemory; and the controller comprises a field programmable gate array(FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
 14. Thecomputing system of claim 7, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to: identify a mapping between data blocks in the pluralityof memory components and data objects as organized in applicationsrunning in the processing device.
 15. A non-transitory computer storagemedium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing system,cause the computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:receiving, in a computing device, data usage information identifyingfirst data movements across a plurality of tiers of memory, the firstdata movements caused by a processing device accessing first data;predicting, by the computing device based on the data usage informationand a prediction model trained via machine learning, second datamovements across the plurality of tiers of memory, the second datamovement predicted to be caused by the processing device accessingsecond data; and initiating, by the computing device, the second datamovements before the processing device requesting to access the seconddata.
 16. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15,wherein the prediction model includes an artificial neural network; andthe method further comprises: training the prediction model using thedata usage information identifying the first data movements across theplurality of tiers of memory.
 17. The non-transitory computer storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the predicting is performed in real time forthe second data access requests.
 18. The non-transitory computer storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises: performingthird data movements in response to the processing device requesting toaccess the second data; and training the prediction model based on thethird data movements.
 19. The non-transitory computer storage medium ofclaim 15, wherein the method further comprises: grouping data blocksthat are used together to identify a mapping between data blocks anddata objects, wherein the predicting is based at least in part on themapping.
 20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15,wherein the method further comprises: adjusting the prediction modelbased on a performance measurement of the plurality of tiers of memoryin servicing data access requests from the processing device.